Talk:Mercedes-Benz SL-Class (R129)

There is a discrepancy between this page and the page covering the M103 engine. This page says that the early 1988-1993 300SL came with a 228BHP engine. This I believe is only true of the 300SL-24. The 300SL, of which some 12,200 were made only had the single cam 12v motor. The page covering M103 engine suggests that this engine has only some 170 odd BHP which I believe is true of its earliest days whereas I believe in its final form it has 217BHP. Further research is needed on both these pages.

The problems that I have pointed out with this page and the M103 engine page may be to do with this engine not having been available in the US. This needs correcting

When did the 320SL first come out?
It says 1994 in the article but I have seen 320 SL's for sale that claim to be as old as 1991. For example, this one http://carsireland.ie/55245 - it's not a great photo, but it definitely looks like a 320SL to me. Could it really be 1991? thanks --Brian Fenton (talk) 16:22, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

81.156.12.208 (talk) 21:54, 16 December 2009 (UTC) A book I have on the R129 (ISBN 3893653651) lists the 12V M103 engine at 190PS or 187bhp and the 24V version which was actually called the M104 as 231PS or 227bhp. I have seen lower ratings for the M104 engine when installed in different cars which could be down to the routing and size of any inlet and exhaust piping. It is also possible that the state of tune of the engine may have been altered to suit the character of the car i.e. sacrifice some top end power for a boost in torque for saloon and vice versa for a sports car.

To my knowledge the 320SL and 280SL, which replaced the 3.0 and 3.0 24v didn't come out until 1994. The increase in capacity I suspect was to try and give the 24V engine a bit more torque at low rpms as most road tests report that the engine felt lack lustre low down in te rev range I think that the 1991 320Sl is definitely a mistake.

The M104 was then replaced in 1998 by the V6 M112 which offered better economy, more low end torque and was lighter. This was a modular engine and by adding two cyclinders they made the 5.0L M113 V8.

Roadster vs. convertible
Can we agree this, being a two door, two seater car with folding top is a roadster? --Cloverleaf II (talk) 17:00, 29 December 2013 (UTC)

How can one tell a true AMG?
I've looked at quite a few R192 (500SL's and SL500's) and many have the rear AMG badge, but how does one tell if it is a true AMG? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.154.6.232 (talk) 18:48, 19 April 2014 (UTC)

The Australian Market
There seems to be an edit war between George Salt@undefined and 96.54.57.109@undefined about whether the section 'The Australian Market' should exist or not, with claims of it being redundant. I'm Australian and a car lover but otherwise have no particular interest for or against MB.

I agree that the list of engine specs is redundant. The power and torque figures differ slightly but that could easily be the explained by the fuel. But if the article is allowed to have a 'The North American Market' section then other countries are allowed to have sections for them as well. Allow both or delete both.

There has also been mention that the units need to be handled better. Sometimes there are metric units, sometimes there are imperial units. Use of with |order=flip is advised.  Stepho  talk 23:01, 20 September 2017 (UTC)


 * I have reverted the latest additions. George needs to discuss why he thinks the additions should stay.  The IP editor has been far more amenable to discussion so far, and unless George can explain himself better I'm in the IP camp.
 * I'll pre-empt a potential reply by saying that "I worked for Mercedes for 30 years!" is not a valid argument. Indeed - referring to it as "our company" raises potential conflict of interest issues.  Chaheel Riens (talk) 17:29, 30 September 2017 (UTC)


 * I have notified George Salt of this discussion on his talk page. 96.54.57.109 (talk) 18:40, 30 September 2017 (UTC)


 * And he has deleted it, I think he may not be interested in discussing his changes. 96.54.57.109 (talk) 07:17, 3 October 2017 (UTC)


 * That's up to him. However if an editor deletes comments from their page, it's considered that the editor has read and understood (if not agreed) with the points raised, as per WP:REMOVED.  Chaheel Riens (talk) 11:55, 3 October 2017 (UTC)


 * In relation to keeping the non specs additions, I think that the last thing this article needs is more unsourced content. Despite the poor state of verifiability on the rest of the page we should no lower our standards for new additions. I absolutely agree that if the Australian market had anywhere near as many differences as the NA market it would definitely warrant mention or perhaps it's own section (depending on the volume of differences) but it being completely unsourced makes this somewhat moot, if you can not verify the existence of the changes who is to say that there are any. 96.54.57.109 (talk) 00:34, 27 October 2017 (UTC)


 * Agreed - as long as the same criteria of needing references is applied to the North American section.  Stepho  talk 10:39, 27 October 2017 (UTC)


 * Done. 96.54.57.109 (talk) 12:55, 27 October 2017 (UTC)


 * I will go hunting for Aussie references over the next few days.  Stepho  talk 23:26, 27 October 2017 (UTC)


 * I tried a bit but did not come up with anything, although you might have better luck. 96.54.57.109 (talk) 11:37, 28 October 2017 (UTC)

I tried but the references I found were either vague references to the Australian market or very specific to one model (mostly the 500SL V8). Unfortunately, M-B is not my usual domain. George will have to provide more references if he doesn't want his work challenged again.  Stepho  talk 20:40, 30 October 2017 (UTC)


 * He'll have a job doing that as he's been blocked indefinitely for refusing to discuss - although he's since blanked his page, so it's not obviously the case. Chaheel Riens (talk) 20:53, 30 October 2017 (UTC)


 * In light of the lack of available sources for the later claims and their general incongruity with the rest of the world, suggesting to me that they are untrue, why would the SL320 take 6 more years to reach Australia then the rest of the world? I think George got the 1998 engine change confused with the 1993 model change, but without sources how can we know. 96.54.57.109 (talk) 05:17, 4 November 2017 (UTC)


 * Reading through Brian Long's book, the SL280 and SL320 were both offered together for many years in Germany. It is quite common for Australian importers to restrict the range because each individual engine type must be certified at great expense. This expense would obviously be passed on to the customer. Probably MB Australia felt the market wouldn't support the price they would have to charge. My guess is that in 1999 they also figured that they needed the larger engine and had it certified at last. A bit of guessing on my part but actually a common thing in our market across all brands. But like you said, without references we have no way of verifying this.  Stepho  talk 19:31, 4 November 2017 (UTC)

R129 is a sport car
R129 is a sport car. It has wheelbase 2515mm. It made on w124 model, and not on w140. C140 is a grand tourer. R230 is a grand tourer. It has wheel base more than 2550mm and it based on w220/c215. 146.19.220.34 (talk) 17:03, 15 January 2023 (UTC)